Governor Gets His Oats at Illinois State Fair

Take a look at the photograph above, fellow teachers!  This picture of Illinois House Speaker Mike Madigan and Illinois Governor Pat Quinn, which was taken at the Illinois State Fair yesterday, should scare the crap out of you as the Illinois State Legislature gets ready to re-convene on August 17th to consider pension reform for Illinois teachers.

I get as paranoid looking at this photo as I did when a Crystal Lake cop car pulled up behind me in 1968.  Madigan and Quinn have been at odds over school districts footing the costs of future pension payments for active teachers.  Madigan thinks the Illinois school districts should pay the pension costs since they are giving huge end-of-career salary increases to administrators; Quinn and his new-found Republican buddies believe that property taxes would go way up if the school districts have to pay pension costs.  Quinn and Republican House Minority Leader Tom Cross want to wait and phase in a system where school districts pay teachers' pensions over a ten year period.

Now Madigan and Quinn have their arms around each other?  Yikes!  Have they made peace?  And Madigan in a White Sox cap?  I'm going to ask the wife if the Cubs will have me as a fan (like Mike Royko did in reverse!).  I want nothing to do with either of these two jokers.

All the experts are saying that nothing will happen on August 17th, but this photo tells a different story, fellow teachers.

Union members are not sitting still.  According to the Springfield State Journal Register, Governor Quinn was booed off the stage when he spoke Wednesday at the Illinois State Fair.  The union protesters followed Quinn all the way from the Democratic County Chairmen's breakfast until the governor finally bailed out and fled the fair grounds after the booing in the afternoon.

Look at the photo above, no one will shake Quinn's hand!  Don't you love the look on the farmer's face?  Classic!

Quinn was so flustered during his boo-shortened speech that he called President Obama, Osama bin Laden:  "I think everybody knows that Obama, uh, he's gone, he's dead, and the American auto industry is alive and well, thanks to our president."

Madigan also got booed, and the unions hired a plane to fly over the fair grounds with a banner that said, "Gov Quinn--unfair to workers."

Get to the phones, teachers.  Quinn and Madigan can't screw us unless they have the Republican votes in the legislature.  If you have Republican representatives and senators (like I do), call them and tell them to vote "no" on any bill that would raise property taxes.

It may be our last chance!